Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

A war is not a war…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
23 Mar 2022
🖨️ Print Article
A war is not a war…
Vietnam in 1969. (Photograph: Netflix/Rex/Shutterstock)

                                                                                             A war is not a war…  

                                                                                     “Truth is the first casualty of war”  

                                                                                               —Phillip Snowden

 

Somewhere there’s bombing—

not where you are…

Somewhere there’s bombing—

maybe Kandahar?

Somewhere skies rain artillery shells nonstop. Night

and day—Day and night… Twisted, tortured rebar

bones of high-rises surrender as pulverized

prisoners…Windows,

doors and floors are crushed with concrete dust and

debris on rubble-strewn streets—Slippery with

blood, brain and guts— Near scorched, Swiss-cheese

cars…

Somewhere there’s shelling—

not where you are…

Somewhere there’s shelling—

maybe Côte d’Ivoire?

Somewhere haunting wailing and moaning punctuates

puzzles under shells of burnt-out buildings. Do empty

shoes and sandals—limbless torsos, decapitated bodies—

offer clues to where it is? Does viscosity of the blood in

form us? What about bloody blankets, the bent blue bike,

Books and papers?

Is it Palestine? Yemen? Ukraine? Is it Tripoli, Kabul or

Baghdad? Addis Ababa or Aleppo? Any tips from the

rhythms and inflections of cries? Do rattling wheels of

Refugee luggage offer a clue?

Somewhere there’s killing—

not where you are

Somewhere there’s killing—

maybe Myanmar?

Call it an operation—non-invasive outpatient procedure—

Call unscheduled surgeries medical mishaps. Leave amputees

and decapitated patients for loved ones to mourn and the mass

Gravediggers to bury…

Address Orwellian medicine men as Dr. Goebbels as they put

patients on low-calorie diets of unknown knowns and known

Unknowns…

Call pre-op scrubbing the airwaves of “Blowin’ In The Wind,”

“Peace Train,” “Imagine” infection control. Then declare:

“The Friendship Train’ ain’t runnin’—You’re either with us,

or you’re with the enemy—and truth will get you 15—instead

of setting you free…”

A war is not a war—

It’s a Special Military Operation. Land Mass Amputation.

It’s Manifest Destiny. It’s a Desert Shield; a Desert Storm

for Enduring Freedom during Q2 through

Q4. And it’s not personal—it’s Business…

Our Saturday marches plant tiny seeds—small

stubborn possibilities. May we learn to cast our

lots with lunch bucket crowds. Remember the

Essential ones? The ones who one day will say:

“Enough! We, too, are ILWU Local 10—We refuse

to lend magic of our hands to merchants of death! We

refuse to load and unload WMD!” And could that day

be the day body-armored workers join in; turning tools with triggers on grifter generals/blood-lusting

bosses?

© 2022. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Former forklift driver/warehouse worker/janitor, Raymond Nat Turner is a NYC poet;

BAR's Poet-in-Residence; and founder/co-leader of the jazz-poetry ensemble UpSurge!NYC.

You can Vote for his work at: GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-town-criers-big-tooth-fund PayPal: paypal.me/towncrierRNT

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • BAR Book Forum: Monika Gosin’s “The Racial Politics of Division”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Monika Gosin’s “The Racial Politics of Division”
    01 Jul 2021
    Miami serves as a heightened case to explore such contradictions as I look closely at tensions between African Americans, white Cubans, and Black Cubans.
  • BAR Book Forum: João H. Costa Vargas’s “The Denial of Antiblackness”
    João H. Costa Vargas
    BAR Book Forum: João H. Costa Vargas’s “The Denial of Antiblackness”
    01 Jul 2021
    In typical critical analyses and progressive multiracial mobilizations Black suffering is acknowledged while antiblackness is negated
  • The Unknown History of Black Uprisings
    Keeanga-Yamahia Taylor
    The Unknown History of Black Uprisings
    01 Jul 2021
    Historian Elizabeth Hinton’s book reveals that, in the late sixties and early seventies, there were hundreds of local rebellions against white violence and racial inequality.
  • American Racism in the Time of Plagues
    Andrew Lanham
    American Racism in the Time of Plagues
    01 Jul 2021
    The U.S Has a long history of blaming Asian immigrants for outbreaks of disease, and every time, democracy and public health suffer.
  • Lost Opportunity, Lost Lives
     Lisa Armstrong
    Lost Opportunity, Lost Lives
    01 Jul 2021
    Prison officials could have prevented sickness and death by releasing those who were most vulnerable to coronavirus and least likely to reoffend — older incarcerated people.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us